“OTOH, without a HOA, you can wind up living next door to someone with a washing machine in the front yard or with people sacrificing goats in the backyard.”
That is what the pro-HOA folks said when we disbanded the HOA. 3 years later, there are no polka-dot houses, no washing machines in the front yard (zoning violation) and no one has offered any goats as a sacrifice to anyone.
Lots of folks HAVE spent money fixing up their homes or yards, though. It is easier to do than when the HOA BOD used the “Anything goes for people we like, and nothing goes for people we dislike” rule of approving upgrades...
The fact that you did not have a problem in a 3 year time frame doesn’t invalidate the notion that it can (and does) happen in many cases.
“...no polka-dot houses...”
Not HOA related, but I did see a house where a guy had a purple GTO Judge and had the trim on his house painted to match.